The Craftsman

First created by members of Lexington Lodge No. 1, The Craftsman is a resource for Masonic education materials, articles, essays, and papers on topics of history, origins, and a variety of noteworthy issues, for those seeking more information about the Fraternity.

First created by members of Lexington Lodge No. 1, The Craftsman is a resource for Masonic education materials, articles, essays, and papers on topics of history, origins, and a variety of noteworthy issues, for those seeking more information about the Fraternity.

Our lodges share a mutual history of uninterrupted longevity linked to the charters issued from the Grand Lodge of Virginia in April 1788 to your lodge, and in November 1788 to Lexington Lodge No.1.

The catchphrase, "it is what it is" was introduced into our culture in the early 1990s. This trite and useless cliché is often used as if it adds some deep and meaningful insight during a discussion.

Yet the euphemism is nothing more than a woeful, resigned acceptance - implying one has conceded to a sense of powerlessness – acquiescing and surrendering to a situation, circumstance or event without further question.

In the numerous lodges to which I have travelled and visited in other states – this catchphrase is all too common.

Brothers today across the nation throw up their arms in exasperation in response to empty lodges on lodge night and say, "We’ll, it is what it is…"

We hear concerns voiced by brothers that men are just too busy today to commit to Masonry and that - "It is what it is."

We say our membership decline is the greatest of all threats to Freemasonry often followed by, "It is what it is."

We hear brothers say Freemasonry has lost its prestige and standing in the world followed by "It is what it is."

This attitude of resigned acceptance is indeed wide-spread and reflects an attitude of disturbing indifference that can become a substitute for seeking the facts as it evolve into standard institutional thinking – which also suggests levels of apathy.

And unfortunately, today there’s plenty of apathy about too many things, and Freemasonry is far from immune.

One word, however, can change apathetic acceptance – offering the sensible balance always necessary if one chooses to include context into their thinking. That word is WHY?

Instead of saying "it is what it is" followed by a shoulder shrug, we should be explaining - "Here’s WHY it is what is."

Knowing WHY offers opportunity to understand, to introduce cause and reason into the conversation – and adds indispensable context through which some situations or circumstances might just be corrected - so that "it is what it is" no longer serves as a substitute for truth and knowledge.

When we also hear "that’s the way it has always been done" we hear just another form of "it is what it is." And those who say it represent those who are most unaware - disclosing a sad unfamiliarity of our rich history and events in 1826 and later that began to reshape North American Freemasonry into the institution we see today.

The events I speak of began in earnest on a gusty, rainy evening on September 11, 1826 when William Morgan was taken from the Ontario county jail near Batavia, NY, forced into a carriage by several men - and was never heard from again.

Many accounts of what came to be known as the Morgan Affair deal with it as if the case were clear, concise, backed with irrefutable evidence and airtight.

Many other accounts highlight the fact that the case is largely circumstantial but that those circumstances, or at least parts of them, are persuasive.

Examining the 189 -year-old case today is best done by being open-minded; it is doubtful that any smoking gun will appear and confirm beyond a reasonable doubt whether or not, as alleged, that William Morgan was killed by Masons because he was about to write a book exposing the secrets of the Craft.

The only rational way to examine the case is with an open mind, and this means being willing to accept the strong likelihood that in 1826 Freemasons from Batavia, New York may have indeed killed Morgan.

Five years of legal investigation and prosecution on the matter of Morgan’s disappearance left a trail of:

20 grand juries and 15 trials;

54 Freemasons indicted, 39 were brought to trial;

10 were convicted, but none on the charge of murder.

So in the end, we are left with a smorgasbord of facts, speculations, confessions and false confessions, sworn testimony, contradictory views, assumptions and convictions, underscored by an era in history that was heavily influenced by political suspicion mixed with religious predispositions stirring concerns about groups that met in secret. All convicted confessed to holding Morgan against his will but denied that they had killed him.

The trials created great excitement and led many people to believe that it was not just the local lodge in Batavia with some injudicious and over-zealous members - but that all of Freemasonry was in conflict with good citizens all over the United States – AND an elitist group who was out of control- who would resort to bodily harm against those who did not correspond with their values.

The Aftermath

As a result of the disappearance of William Morgan, waves of charges of illegal and immoral activities levied against all Freemasonry were rampant across New England; Masons were accused of subverting political and religious institutions, and corrupting the criminal justice branch of our government. Women and the church joined in against Freemasonry and the call for it to be abolished turned into an anthem.

Eventually, Anti-Masonry spread more or less extensively into all the states - denouncing first the system, and then the men, as unfit for any office, and unworthy of any countenance. Not only were men who were Masons denounced, but also denounced were those who would not denounce them!

Anti-Masonic committees were established in practically every state. Masonic meetings were disrupted. The Craft was discredited as an intellectual society - no longer were men looking to join in order to be socially conscious.

National Anti-Masonic hysteria reached its zenith during the 1832 presidential election, when Andrew Jackson, a Freemason from Tennessee, and Henry Clay, a Freemason from Kentucky, and William Hirt, representing the Anti-Masonic Party (who had completed the 2nd degree of Masonry, but demitted) sought the presidency.

Jackson, the incumbent, hung on to the presidency, but that did not mean that Freemasonry had been rehabilitated – the fierce anti-Masonry propaganda continued in all states and although the Anti-Mason Party had been democratically defeated, the nation’s mood and attitude toward Freemasonry did not significantly diminish.

The number of Masons in the United States during the acknowledged hay-day of the Anti- Masonry hysteria, dropped from 100,000 to 40,000.

New York alone went from 20,000 members to 3,000 and from 480 lodges to only 82. The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania surrendered its charter in 1834, having conveyed its property to trustees, and did not reincorporate until 1859. Masonic clergy were dismissed from their churches. Lodges were burnt and public Masonic participation at funerals; cornerstone laying and parades immediately waned and in some places disappeared. The Craft was primarily characterized as a discredited intellectual society at best -- and dangerously subversive at worst, thus men no longer were eager to join.

Thus - Freemasonry as an institution was slowly decimated.

After the Civil War, Masonry experienced a brief comeback. In 1871, however, a former brigadier general in the Confederate army named Albert Pike wrote a lengthy book called Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, which was to embroil Masonry in conflict again, though for different reasons.

The Morgan Affair was many things, but it was certainly not conclusive evidence that all of Freemasonry is culpable for the actions of a few in Batavia in 1826, even -- or perhaps particularly -- if those acts did extend to murder.

If Morgan was indeed murdered by Masons, then those responsible for the act, or who planned and orchestrated the murder, were solely culpable to answer for the crime.

Has the ghost of William Morgan actually caused more damage and dilution to Masonry today than it did during the agonizing 13 years immediately following his disappearance? You bet it has.

Are those who lead and practice the Craft today ALL aware of the why behind the dilutions or that what we have today are actually dilutions? Disappointingly, the answer is NO.

However - the dilution (the many things we see today in Freemasonry that have so often been correctly observed since the 1960s as the very things that weakened the appeal of our institution and overall ability to serve as the system it was originally designed to be) can easily be traced in one way or another to the fraternity’s reaction to the anti-Masonic hysteria that rapidly spread through American from 1826-1843.

Knowing why the Morgan Affair affected Freemasonry up through today certainly eliminates even fully discredits the claim, it is what it is… and maybe even the faulty claim of that’s the way we’ve always done it…

For the Good of the Order – Masons should – at the minimum, make a balanced effort to understand the major reasons WHY Freemasonry in North America "is what it is today…"

PART II

Since the 1950s, we’ve seen grand lodges ret and wring their hands about what is iewed as an alarming decrease in membership.

The finger was pointed and blame accessed for the dramatic decrease on as many simple explanations as could be found.

It has been all too common to hear what boiled down to the primary explanation that: men are busier today and don’t have time for Freemasonry.

This incomplete and faulty explanation has led many to say "it is what it is…" – yet still it led to decades of desperate attempts to secure higher numbers on our membership rolls that has resulted in the catastrophic loss of our image, the inclusion of men questionable in qualifications, and the marginalization of our influence in society.

For decades, Freemasonry looked at the external instead of the internal reasons membership declined and interest in our gentle Craft waned – in short, we devoted way too much time making excuses to justify our failings instead of working to maintain our successes.

For decades we seemed to have worked to become fluent in apologizing for our profession.

We listened for decades to Masonic pundits offer their reasons along with the chorus of those who expressed a multitude of skepticism asserting that Freemasonry - as an intuition - was no longer as relevant in today’s society.

Eventually, Masonry in general began to adopt the attitude that dramatic changes were not only desirable - but necessary for our survival in a changing society – and those dramatic changes began to occur with an unintended, yet unfavorable rippling effect.

As a result –

We’ve witnessed many of the magnificent temples and lodges of the past deteriorate and disappear - yet still many continued to cling to the notion that bigger is better along with the evidence-troubled notion that without millions and millions of men on our membership rolls, Freemasonry as an institution - cannot survive.

We observe across the nation a fragmented understanding of not only our factual history, but our practices, principles, and philosophies and our general membership becoming less and less aware of these things.

We observed practices and traditions – all an integral part of the SYSTEM of Freemasonry, begin to vanish and fall out of practice…

We began to see Freemasonry shamefully adopt the strategy that the institution must curry favor with all of society… in order to regain the lost prominence once enjoyed…

We saw the attitude sweep many parts of the nation that it should be EASIER for a man to become a Freemason.

In 1839, as these attitudes were taking a deep root in what was left of Freemasonry at the time, the Grand Lodge of Alabama, which had been established in 1821 -- just five years before the Morgan Affair -- passed a resolution to request all American Grand Lodges to send a delegate to Washington, D.C., on the first Monday of March 1842.

The preceding years of Anti-Masonry had taken its toll on the quality of the ritual. Many of the strong ritualists had either left the Craft during the anti-Masonic years or died. Of those that remained Masons -- the decade and a half of inactivity had caused the ritual to escape their memories and, as a result, new members received poor instruction as to the workings of the fraternity.

So, this future gathering of grand lodge representatives was not merely a matter of fraternal bonding, but rather -- to the Masons of Alabama -- one of great importance. For at this proposed gathering, it was hoped that "a uniform mode of work throughout all the Lodges of the United States" could be decided upon. However this was not the sole purpose of the gathering. It was also being called "to make other lawful regulations for the interest and security of the Craft."

In 1843, a convention of Grand Lodges met in Washington, D.C. Only 16 of the 23 Grand Lodges in the United States, however, participated.

While the work of the convention itself ultimately changed the face of Freemasonry in North America, one specific action exemplified the road upon which Freemasonry was to embark that in direct response to the Morgan Affair.

Looking back on the events of more than a century and a half ago allows us to reflect that the Baltimore Convention accomplished little of any practical worth. It introduced:

the dues card and letter of good standing as a matter of almost universal use, but Lodges still conduct a board of trial to ensure that a visiting Mason is what he claims to be, and even that is no guarantee of keeping the cowans out.

It changed the due guards of two degrees to correspond to that of the First Degree, and

it changed the movable and immovable jewels. However, it is entirely possible that these changes were for no other reason than an attempt to keep out intruders who had read exposés of Freemasonry.

The one change that has created unintended, but long-term negative consequences on the Masonic fraternity was the decision to conduct lodge business only while open on the Third Degree

In the years following the convention and still reeling from the aftermath of the Morgan Affair, the perceived "need" to rehabilitate the reputation of the Craft in the eyes of the public, Freemasonry started down the precarious road in what appeared to be an attempt please everyone – thus ultimately pleasing very few.

Yes, it was the Morgan Affair that started altering and diluting North American Freemasonry, and here’s but a few reasons why.

Following the 13 years of attempts to stamp out Masonry in North America - and on up through today:

Masonry began to assume and practice a cautious attitude and decided they did not want the label of secretive or , much less too esoteric.

Temples were ultimately changed into Lodges so not to appear like a religion…

The study of esoteric subjects and practices like the Reflection Room, began to slowly vanish from our traditions so not to alarm those did not understand or seek to appreciate the value of men searching for Light.

Other traditions easily fell by the way so not to make Freemasonry look like it was anything more than a convivial meeting of members behind closed doors.

Disappearing were processions into lodge, the practice of purging lodge, even music was believed to be unnecessary since so much of it played on an organ sounded too much like religious hymns.

We got in a hurry – We didn’t teach nor educate, and we ultimately paid for that with each subsequent generation of Masons.

Our rituals were shortened – parts forgotten (if they were ever passed on at all) the chain of union and other customs were further lost as many new generations came through the West Gate and were never exposed to these practices NOR the Masonic education validating their history, thus voiding their institutional knowledge leaving no frame of reference to pass on except that which they’d observed – which ultimately led to many Masons to quickly adopt that mistaken claim that - "We’ve never done it that way…

We curtailed and in some cases banished fraternal feasts and gatherings altogether – again to the extent that many men today who have been Masons for decades have never attended or even know what a Festive Board or Table Lodge involves – or why!

We slowly began to embrace the concept that fund raising and promotion of charitable giving not only occupied members - but pleased outside society – making the institution appear less threatening and more mainstream – perhaps even shielded from public criticism to some degree by other fraternal organizations of the era.

We then witnessed an unexpected influx of men into the Craft after WWII, and as a result of being in a hurry, an undesirable growing dependence on Ritual to serve as all the Masonic education necessary for a member germinated.

We saw a significant drop in our practice of protocol and etiquette in just a half century to where many Masons have never dressed or prepared for lodge, stand when they speak to the Master and brethren.

In just the past half century, Masonry in general threw in the towel and conspicuously attempted to play down any suggestion of elitism – the elitism that has grown ever so unpopular in culture where no premium is placed on those who work hard, become educated, persevere and take full responsibility for themselves, their behavior and actions. In fact, few will promotes, much less even discuss the fact that Masonry is intended to be an elite society – favoring instead to marginalize its importance to the point that it seems rather – ordinary…

Morgan’s ghost also made us too willing to reveal all in the mistaken belief that if we showed we had nothing to hide, Masonry would be more acceptable to all of society. Again, ill-conceived strategy and quest for acceptance by society makes us much less interesting – and ordinary. In spite of the fact that in areas of the world (where Freemasonry is still considered elite with elements of secrecy) the Craft flourishes.

We’ve talked so much about the general belief that society changed (thus the Craft’s decline in membership since the 1950s) that it became something of a Masonic fact.

But "Masonic facts" like these do not hold conclusive evidence as a cause since society has also changed in Europe, England, Australia, the Philippines (to name only a few) and yet lodges in the countries have multi-year waiting lists for membership. Those men too have families, careers, soccer practice, televisions, the Internet, theaters, golf courses, sporting events and the ever-present creep of the instant gratification phenomenon that shadows our societies.

The unfortunate trend to larger lodges and buildings evolved – and as a result, men did not get to know all men – membership relief and support was watered down because few men formed a personal fraternal bond – ultimately leading to practicing the motions, but not the substance of the spirit of Masonry.

Before the Morgan Affair, most meetings opened on the first degree – EAs attended and enjoyed the education and fraternity. Afterwards, and specifically thanks given to the 1843 Baltimore Convention where what might have been considered good intentions at the time - resulted in a unintended consequences for the next 9 generations of Masons – ALL in an attempt to assure that men could not join, learn secrets and leave after a few meetings and then expose the mysteries of our Craft – thus a genuine Masonic experience.

So, in an attempt to keep men interested, and as we began to speed up the work where it no longer took a year of hard work and research to move to the next level – we find fewer men genuinely educated about Masonry.

And then, as the rolls dwindled - some jurisdictions embraced the notion that the solution to and speedy deliverance from the effects of the dwindling membership was: one-day classes and even testing outside open lodge.

In combination with all of this, as if this wasn’t enough, we can easily see the blossoming trend to make it easier for men to become members – but not necessarily well-educated Masons… just members.

As a result - many men pushed ahead past their level of proficiency along with their knowledge of the Craft and the time it takes to learn it. The easier it became to move up – we simultaneously observed across the country how lonely the West Gate became as fewer men knocked on the door.

The increased speed and ease of becoming a Master Mason meant men who had not been tested by years of association with the lodge moved up through the ranks as officers – posing a potential problem when those men ascended into the Warden’s chairs and the East BEFORE their character and merit under all types of situations had been shown in lodge.

It also meant that men who had not had the opportunity to hone their abilities through Masonic education, making presentations and developing leadership skills could become officers and Masters of their lodges getting further, and further away from the principle of electing men on their merit.

The depletion of Masonic membership had other snowballing effects.

As numbers fell, lodges has fewer competent members remaining to perform ceremonies

Further accounting for less competent members who would never have been called upon in healthier times of the past, being thrust into office.

As the mechanics of Freemasonry began to tumble a perpetual motion is traceable – one that looks like falling dominoes. Today we can easily observe:

A lesser guard on the West Gate;

A lesser proficiency in ceremonies & ritual;

Less emphasis on Masonic education, history and protocol;

Less emphasis on traditional practices;

Rushing candidates through degrees;

Adopting the notion that ritual alone could substitute for ongoing Masonic education;

Lessening emphasis on fellowship;

THUS – a placement of men in leadership who were not as prepared to lead the Craft as many of their predecessors;

And, adopting quick fix strategies that despoiled the system of freemasonry; and,

The proliferation of the belief that the purpose of Freemasonry is to essentially serve as a charitable organization – not

We don’t seem to be driven by or accepting of the reality that without more than ordinary business meetings, we will never hold the interest of men who came to work on subduing their passions and improving themselves through Masonry.

All William Morgan intended to do in 1826 was make some money from the sale of an expose about Freemasonry - and perhaps serve up a poke in the eye to or embarrass those men who had rejected, and in some cases possibly humiliated him.

He didn’t accomplish the first, but of course he did achieve the later… yet he did much more than he ever thought possible when it came to casting a long shadow of rippling influence on the future of Freemasonry in North America.

The marks the Morgan Affair left on our Craft is measured today in attitudes spread out over 18 decades and 9 generations of Masons who were and continued to be swayed either directly or indirectly by the attitudes of Masons who came before them by:

unawareness of how we evolved into doing many things we do and don’t do today,

a continuation of a generally diluted system whose parts were once delicately, but precisely allied to work as a true system of moral instruction - and to serve as a REMINDER of those time- honored and ancient principles that indeed make good men better if learned and practiced!

Freemasonry did not survive prior to the Morgan Affair by bowing to the wishes or the demands of a Society.

Freemasonry did not thrive by subjugating the Craft to dictatorial regimes or to oppressive religious powers. (Thomas Jackson)

Freemasonry did not become the greatest organization conceived by the mind of man by lowering our standards and sacrificing our principles in order to receive greater numbers or acceptance from the profane world that makes no attempt to understand us. (Thomas Jackson)

No, my Brothers!! The System of Freemasonry became what it became due to our early commitment to retain and maintain those qualities, traditions, practices and commitment of the entire system of Masonry - which made it great and made it a benefit to civil society.

We cannot afford to look at Freemasonry or consider it as a system only in parts.

We cannot look at the institution of Freemasonry today without awareness of its factual past – yet many brethren do.

We cannot observe our Craft today in its required balanced manner, nor can our fraternity be effectively led without proper context and factual knowledge of the past – a past that clearly points to why we are what we are today.

To do otherwise we merely continues to feed the oblivious who seem to believe Freemasonry began the year they were initiated.

What has been done for the good of the order today has been done because of what was not done for the Good of the Order yesterday.

And the good news for our Craft - and the bad news for the legacy & ghost of William Morgan is this -

Today there are pockets of Masons and lodges throughout North America that have:

stepped up to the present by returning to the past

they’ve re-adopted and practice traditions that have been long forgotten or vanished over the last 189 years

they’ve rejected the notion that BIGGER is BETTER

They’ve placed a premium on the purposeful education of men who not only knock on the West Gate, but seek to maintain engagement in their lodge and the practice of our profound philosophies and wonderful allegorical lessons.

They have returned to the protocols and etiquette that underscored Masonic lodges where men gathered to share fellowship, seek Light through Fraternalism, and assume self- responsibility in making a daily advancement in their Masonic knowledge for self-improvement.

The unofficial, yet significant roster that might make up such a of list of these pockets of lodges around North America that are working For the Good of the Order clearly, and without debate, include Alexandria-Washington No. 22 - and its learned members.

In Closing

It will not be our Grand Lodges, appendant bodies and their track record of social philanthropy, bills boards, slogans, web sites, one-day classes or the Internet that will extend the true system and blueprint of Freemasonry into the future.

For Freemasonry to be re-invested of what it has been divested we must turn to these small pockets of lodges throughout North America who have and continue to re-capture with consistency and practice the traditions and essential fraternalism offered through the Craft - not just through the instruction our profound lessons, but:

the practice of all the mechanics and parts of the system that are proven to be what keeps men engaged in our Craft.

And by providing wholesome education, knowledge and awareness of how our rich history seamlessly integrates and is actually balanced with religion, politics, language, mythology, symbolism and the universal laws of nature.

This roster, to the glee of some Masons - and to the regret of others, is small today in comparison to the number of regularly chartered lodges in our country.

Regardless – it will be the laudable efforts of the brethren in those lodges to pass on to future generations the significance of and exemplary rewards we achieve from subduing our passions and improving ourselves through Masonry: the kind of Masonry practiced as a complete system as it was deigned to be.

And, it will be done as it has always been done – by those men who genuinely educated about Freemasonry and know that when practiced - as the system it was always intended to be - it is an elite fraternity - an exclusive institution open for membership – BUT only to a select group of good men – for as we in this lodge room all know: we cannot make fine porcelain out of bad clay! (Thomas Jackson) an educational society offering moral instruction.

Yes, today we can easy see how the underlying desire to make Freemasonry more acceptable to society, kept the ghost of William Morgan alive.

Ultimately, the fraternity’s well-intended but ill- considered attitudes and leadership over many generations lead the Craft in North America towards the ordinary – ALL in an attempt to make Masonry more "acceptable" - largely abandoning the exclusivity and appeal to many men who sought to be associated with something more than the ordinary.

And in the end - our own ignorance of the true significance and purpose of Freemasonry as a system also facilitated the decline of the mystique of our Craft – a mystique that is indeed one of the reasons men seek to join.

The rippling effects are extraordinary, but in when examined in context – they easily connect and illustrate how Morgan’s disappearance resulted in the Craft not only doing what it thought best at the time to survive, but opened the door that began to make Freemasonry less than the extraordinary institution it was designed to be.

PART III

So today, even in the face of balanced, acknowledged and relevant evidence since the 1960s:

We cannot, even for the good of the order, seem to universally break the shackles that binds us to the trite and worn-out belief that BIGGER IS BETTER or to have smaller lodges with members who are involved and educated beyond their exposure ritual to be a good thing for the Craft.

We cannot, even for the good of the order, seem to allow ourselves to be universally convinced, that instead of billboards and slogans, our membership committees should be looking to assure our communities are fully aware of the realities of Freemasonry. NOT RECRUTING or SOLICITING – but enlightening communities about the value the institution offers to men of all walks of life - and not just through declarations that toss out dollar figures about the amount of charitable giving the claimed by the fraternity.

We cannot, even for the good of the order, seem to allow ourselves to consider a return to the times when it was not easy to become a Mason - even though around the world it is proven that the harder it is to join and stay - the longer the list of qualified candidates who wish to join.

We cannot even, for the good of the order, seem to require men to participate and attend lodge as is done in other parts of the world where lodges remain small and vibrant, able to do proficient work and make other things happen.

We cannot, even for the good of the order, seem to effectively work on adopting the return to itinerant lecturers and interesting presentations of work by our members during stated communications.

We cannot substitute the truth of what Freemasonry offers with quick fixes or schemes designed to make the truths of our profound lessons and philosophies more conveniently acceptable to the rest of world.

Our issues since 1826 have been more internal – than external, and for the good of the order - we should embrace the fact there is no apology necessary today - or in the future for all that our Gentle Craft offers to men who seek to improve themselves through Masonry.

The brethren who make up this pocket of lodges who are reinvesting that, which we as a Craft, have been divested, are the Freemasons who will ultimately put William Morgan’s ghost to rest.

So, brothers, the next time you hear someone talk about Freemasonry and say, "it is what it is" - or "that’s the way we’ve always done it" - I hope you will consider this information as context.

Perhaps with that context, we can take some solace and promote a more optimistic outlook about the fact that Freemasonry, when practiced as the system it was always intended to be, will indeed survive as that system– and recognition for that survival in the years ahead of us, will be attributed by historians to lodges like Alexandria-Washington No. 22.

For you, the brethren here tonight at Alexandria- Washington No. 22 and the work you do to observe the Craft, is the example Freemasonry today needs the most.

AGAIN, my thanks to W/B Hammer for the invitation to speak this evening in your historical lodge - and to the esteemed brethren in attendance for your attention, cordiality and warm hospitality.

LEXINGTON LODGE No. 1

FREEMASONRY - LEXINGTON LODGE No. 1 DVD: Professionally produced and made possible by a grant to No. 1, this 22 minute DVD offers a factual history of the lodge and how Freemasonry came to Kentucky in 1788. In addition, the DVD offers an overview of the activities, educational pursuits, and community involvement of the lodge today. Suitable for Masons and non-Masons alike, contact your instructor or the Chair of the Education Committee to receive your copy. Click here to view online.

MEETINGS: The Masonic Study Group is a meeting place for Masons who appreciate lively discussion on a variety of topics; seek on-going education about the fraternity; history and a wide array of subjects about our Craft, and who enjoy the benefits of sharing an evening of fellowship with brothers outside the formal setting of our Stated Communications.

The Group meets each month at Lexington Lodge No. 1 at 7:00 p.m. (map). Dress is casual. No meal is served. All Entered Apprentice, Fellow Crafts and Master Masons are welcome.